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Published on

21 May 2007

Abstract

The growing area of study broadly termed nanotechnology provides a
new set of challenges to the facility designer. While evolutionary
changes in the quality of clean spaces occur, it is the collaborative
nature of this field that requires revolutionary changes in facility
design. The main challenge is to accommodate areas of a facility
with quite different technological needs, and to design and locate
them such that clashes in technology are avoided. The Birck
Nanotechnology Center at Purdue University is a recent facility that
was designed and constructed to accommodate the diverse needs of
nanotechnology research, and is currently in full operation. This
case study discusses the decision points in the design of a
nanotechnology research facility and their effect on the
implementation of this facility. Of particular interest is the
conjoining of a semiconductor/MEMS nanofabrication cleanroom with a
pharmaceutical-style biocleanroom.

Bio

John Weaver is the Facility Manager of the Birck Nanotechnology
Center at Purdue University, and was instrumental in the design,
construction, and implementation of this facility. He draws on 34 years of experience in the semiconductor industry with RCA
Corporation, Hughes Aircraft Company, and recently retiring from Delphi Corporation as Manager of Contamination Control. His experience includes process development and support, device development, and processing facilities development and operation. He has published numerous papers in both process development and contamination control, has two patents, authored a book and a book chapter, and taught many short-courses on cleanrooms and contamination-control subjects. He is the recipient of the Willis J. Whitfield Award for contributions to the field of contamination control, a Senior Member of the IEST, Vice-Chair of the SPC on nanotechnology, and a Technical Editor of the Journal of the IEST. He is also a Principal Member of the NFPA 318 committee that writes fire standards for cleanrooms.

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